


i'm a fool who's only receiving

by hansoline



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff and Humor, Implied Sexual Content, Lee Jihoon | Woozi is Whipped, M/M, Model Kim Mingyu, Mutual Pining, Producer Lee Jihoon | Woozi, kim mingyu is confident gay, lee jihoon is panicked gay, mentions of vomit, side jihan, side junhao, side soonwoo, soonhoon are best friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:28:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27161128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hansoline/pseuds/hansoline
Summary: "We're gonna go support our friend. You're gonna admire the art exhibits, see Mingyu, eat from the huge buffet… It's gonna be so fun."Jihoon's heartbeat goes crazy at the sound of that name."WHO DID YOU SAY WAS GONNA BE THERE?" Jihoon snaps and sits up straighter, leaning on the gap between the two front seats."Oh, that? Kim Mingyu. Do you know him?"
Relationships: Kim Mingyu/Lee Jihoon | Woozi
Comments: 8
Kudos: 85





	i'm a fool who's only receiving

**Author's Note:**

> ahhhh!!! i wrote this for my friend's birthday because she's the one who got me into seventeen and jigyu. this story means so much to me, i'm kind of nervous about posting it but yeah! hope you enjoy <33
> 
> dt anna <3
> 
> title by seventeen's 'all my love'

Sitting in the back seat of Soonyoung and Wonwoo's car, Jihoon can't remember why he agreed to tag along.

Soonyoung is bouncing on his seat, rambling about God knows what. Jihoon had already zoned out and started looking out the window, earphones on. 

His friend reaches in the back and taps his knee. "Jihoonie, take those things out and listen to me." 

Jihoon turns to Wonwoo, who keeps driving quietly, only throwing him a sympathetic look from the mirror. "What is it?" 

"Aren't you excited?" 

"For dinner? Sure, since you're paying." 

"We're not going to dinner. You really weren't listening this whole time?" 

Jihoon shrugs. He recalls Soonyoung dragging him out of his couch, urging him to take a shower and go out with them. He normally would never agree to join them on whatever gross things they do on their dates but Soonyoung had promised food would be involved. 

"You said we're going to get food." 

"No, I said that, where we're going, there's gonna be food." 

Jihoon groans. "Then where are we going?" 

"Okay so." Soonyoung turns his whole body around, which is hard to do with the seat belt on, and Jihoon briefly feels sorry for Wonwoo who has to hear, whatever this is, all over again. "You know my friend Jun?" 

Jihoon rolls his eyes, "Obviously." 

Junhui wasn't only someone that Jihoon had common friends with. He was a famous actor and a very talented one, if Jihoon's unprofessional opinion was worth anything. He thinks he'd know who he was even if they didn't sometimes play board games together on Fridays. 

"It was a rhetorical question, quit being a dick. Anyway, do you know his boyfriend?" 

"Are we doing this again? Yes, Soonyoung, I know who Minghao is." 

"But what you don't know is that we're going to his art gallery!’’

‘’His what?’’, Jihoon asks, suspiciously. He knew Minghao had just finished university. There was no doubt that he was talented but artists barely find opportunities like that so early in their careers. 

‘’Okay, it’s not actually his.’’, Soonyoung says like he just skipped a minuscule detail, ‘’but it’s an art exhibit and he has his own paintings there. It’s like a huge deal.’’

Jihoon blinks. "Somehow I don't think I'm invited?" 

"Of course you are. Minghao likes you." 

"We barely talk."

"He's just quiet, he's not mean." Soonyoung waves his hand. "Besides, you and Wonwoo never talk when it's just the two of you. You just sit next to each other, on your phones." 

"It's our special bonding time." Wonwoo speaks, ironically for the first time during this entire car ride. 

"Whatever. We're gonna go support our friend. You're gonna admire the art exhibits, see Mingyu, eat from the huge buffet… It's gonna be so fun."

Jihoon's heartbeat goes crazy at the sound of that name. 

"What did you say?"

"Jun said there's always a buffet at those venues. Babe, do you think they'll have chicken nuggets?" 

"Uh, probably not." 

"Shame." 

"WHO DID YOU SAY WAS GONNA BE THERE?" Jihoon snaps and sits up straighter, leaning on the gap between the two front seats. 

"Oh, that? Kim Mingyu. Do you know him?" 

"Kwon fucking Soonyoung. You know DAMN well that-" he stops suddenly as he doesn't want Wonwoo to know any more details about his pathetic love life.

"That?" 

"Nothing. Wonwoo, stop the car." 

"We're in the middle of the road?" 

"Then take me back home." 

"We're almost there, Jihoon-ah." 

"I don't care, I'll walk home if I have to." 

At the sound of that Soonyoung jumps and presses the buttons on Wonwoo's door, locking all the doors and flashes an evil grin. Wonwoo doesn't look phased at all, which makes Jihoon wonder if he was in on it the entire time or if Soonyoung just dives into his lap while he's driving that often. Either way he stares angrily and sulks in his seat. 

* * *

Mingyu was a model and the subject of Jihoon's affection. 

He had appeared on Jihoon's Instagram feed one fateful day last summer. He remembers stalking him for a while because _holy shit who looks like that?_ He even showed the profile to Seungcheol who had nodded in approval. 

Then he made the mistake of showing it to Soonyoung. His friend had whistled and grabbed the phone out of his hand. 

"Mingyu, huh? Oh I _know_ Mingyu. What? Stop looking at me like that, I'm taken, not blind." 

However, Jihoon was more concerned with the way he's scrolling through Mingyu's profile without a care in the world.

"If you like anything, I swear to God-"

"Yeah yeah, I'll face your wrath or whatever... Do you know I've met him?" 

"...Right." 

"No really, tell him, Wonwoo." 

Wonwoo hums without looking up from his book. "He's friends with Myungho, we all went out to eat one day. He's nice." 

Soonyoung pulls out his phone and shows him that Mingyu is, in fact, following both of them back.

So he's really nice? The thought of someone being this hot and also not an asshole doesn't sit right with Jihoon. After all he's in the industry too, he has worked with many people who put up a nice front but are actually shallower than...than... okay maybe Jihoon can't think of an analogy right now but it's only fair since he's too busy begging for Soonyoung not to double tap any of Mingyu's pictures. 

* * *

With the broad sense of the word, Jihoon guesses Mingyu could be considered his crush. It was one thing to watch his posts and another thing to actually meet him. They had mutual friends, he'd seen him at parties, they had chatted but that was it. He hated to admit it but he was jealous of how close he was with Minghao to the point where he turned on post notifications for his friend so he wouldn't miss any Mingyu updates. 

"Why don't you just ask him to set you up?" Soonyoung had asked one day when they were sitting at the studio. Jihoon had laughed in his face. 

"You're crazy."

"No, you're just a coward. You know he'd do it." 

Jihoon supposes that if he thought he had any chances with Mingyu he would ask Minghao to introduce them. He being nice about it wasn't the issue. 

"That's not the point." 

"You always make everything harder than it needs to be…" Soonyoung had sighed and Jihoon silently agreed. 

* * *

Speaking to him was out of the question. 

Jihoon stood in the middle of the venue, a huge white room packed with sophisticated people, feeling the betrayal slowly filling him with rage. 

The paintings were nice and he almost found himself relaxing staring at one of them. Then he remembered that his oldest friend stabbed him in the back and clenched his fists. 

The worst part was that he didn't even seem to care. He was going around greeting everyone like the sociable sack of shit he was. God, Jihoon could just kick him. 

He doesn't even realize when he comes to stand next to him, holding a glass of wine.

"Do you want something to drink?" 

"No."

"Something to eat then? Oh! They have egg rolls! Come on, let's see." 

"I don't want anything, leave me alone." 

"Fineee." Soonyoung drags the word, as if he's suddenly very bored with this conversation. "If you wanna be a little bitch about it." 

"YOU WERE THE ONE-" he snaps and immediately stops once he notices some people staring. "You were the one who brought me here without telling me that he was also coming." he continues quietly. 

"But I did tell you. It’s not my fault you were ignoring me." 

"Cut the crap, you know what you did."

"Damn, I'm sorry for doing you a favor." 

"I didn't ask for it!" he hisses. "I just wanted to stay at home and you went behind my back. You always do this, you never mind your goddamn business. Now, go." 

Soonyoung blinks. He mumbles a soft 'okay' before he turns on his heels to leave. 

Great, he did it. He managed to push away the one friend who had stuck with him for that long. 

He hates Soonyoung for being a loud, obnoxious, controlling person. He hates Wonwoo for… okay he can't think of a valid reason to hate Wonwoo but he sure will. 

However, before he can think of one, Wonwoo himself appears next to him. 

"You know that when he's wrong, I'm the first to point it out, right?"

"Hm?"

If he didn't know any better Jihoon would think that Wonwoo is using his extra height to appear scarier. He hates that it's working. 

"All we did was bring you here. Yes, we knew Mingyu was coming but no one is forcing you to talk to him. The choice is yours, Soonyoung was just helping you." 

Jihoon feels terrible. It'd be easier if Wonwoo just yelled at him cause then he could be mad at him too but nooooo. He has to be the fucking voice of reason. He hates it that he's right. He hates it even more that Soonyoung is right. 

"I'll apologize." 

"Yeah, you will." Wonwoo says and just like that he walks away. 

Jihoon wanders around for a bit until he finds Soonyoung sitting on one of the tables, near the huge buffet. He pulls out one of the chairs and joins him. 

"It really is fancy here, huh?" he points at the chocolate fountain. 

"You hate it." Soonyoung says, mouth full of chocolate covered strawberry. 

"I don't. And I'm sorry. I should be thanking you for bringing me here. What else would I be doing on a Saturday? I'd either be playing video games or I'd just spend all night at the studio." 

"Ah, Jihoonie, I'm sorry too." He sits up. "I did trick you but only because I hate to see you so hung up over this guy without doing anything…

"Thank you but this is my problem and it doesn't matter anyway. You can't lose what you never had." 

"So you're not going to talk to him?" 

Jihoon shrugs. "I haven't even seen him all night." 

"I have, he's right there." Soonyoung says and points at Mingyu, two tables away from them. 

"Oh." 

He really is there, completely underdressed but still better looking than everyone in this entire room. He's wearing a denim button down, light brown pants and ...white converse? Jihoon could pass out by how endearing he is. 

"Look, he's getting up now!" Soonyoung leans in to whisper and Jihoon just stares as Mingyu gets up and walks to Minghao, in the center of the room, with a walk that could put any other model to shame. 

"Seems like a great time for you to go congratulate Myungho." Wonwoo appears out of thin air and startles Jihoon.

"When did you get here?" 

"He just walks like a cat." Soonyoung shakes his head and Wonwoo sits next to them. "Anyway, he's right. You're being so rude, we've been here for like an hour and you still haven't talked to Minghao." 

Wonwoo nods. "It's only polite." 

They're both smirking and Jihoon sighs. "Fine, I'll go, stop wiggling your eyebrows like that." Soonyoung smiles widely. "But you're coming with me." 

"What? No, it'll seem weird. Minghao knows I've seen all of these paintings already. I was at his house when he did this one." 

"Which one?" 

"That one over there. Next to the one with the flowers that look like vaginas." 

"How would you know?" 

Soonyoung blinks. "I've seen flowers, Jihoon-ah." 

Jihoon ignores him and turns to Wonwoo. "Are you coming?" 

"I think this is something that you need to do on your own." he says and sips his wine. 

"Talk about a big quest. I'm just gonna talk to some guy, it's not a big deal." 

Wonwoo just looks at him.

"...Which is what you’ve been trying to make me realise. Well played, Jeon." he says and pushes back his chair to get up. Wonwoo just raises his glass. 

"Go get 'em!" Soonyoung whisper-screams and Jihoon feels like he just might throw up on some expensive artwork. 

When Minghao sees him, he smiles and waves, which makes Mingyu turn around to face him too. 

"Hyung, you made it. I'm glad." Minghao says with such sincerity that Jihoon feels bad for even considering he didn't want him there. Seems to be the theme of the night for him. 

"Hey, Minghao, congratulations. I'm proud of you." Jihoon says and shoves his hands inside his pockets, swaying awkwardly. 

"Thank you, it means a lot, really." he says and places his hand on his chest. "You've met Mingyu?" 

Mingyu nods and smiles. "We met at Jun's party. How are you, Jihoon?" 

The absolute thrill that rushes through his body when he hears him saying his name is embarrassing. It's been months since he introduced himself and Mingyu, a famous model who probably meets hundreds of people a week, remembers him. 

"I'm good." he nods and he scours his brain to find something cool to say. "Hey, did you guys see those vagina flowers?’’ is what he ends up with.

Minghao squints his eyes. "What?"

"That one over there…" he says before he can stop himself. He half-heartedly points at the painting Soonyoung showed him before. 

"Hyung, that's…"

"Oh my God, you're right they totally look like vaginas." Mingyu laughs so hard, he folds his entire body in half. His laugh is deep and attractive and a wave of relief crushes Jihoon. 

Minghao tilts his head in confusion. Probably because he's not stupid and realises that there's something going on. He looks at Jihoon, then at Mingyu. Jihoon can almost see a light bulb on his head. 

"Please, excuse me. I think someone is calling for me."

Jihoon is sure no one is calling him and those suspicions are confirmed when he sees Minghao walking towards Soonyoung, Wonwoo and Jun who has just now joined them. 

The realization dawns on him. He's alone with Mingyu. Okay, it's not actually just the two of them. The room is huge and filled with, like, 70 people. But right now they're standing next to each other and Jihoon is pressured to make conversation. 

Thankfully, Mingyu looks just as awkward. "Sooooo…How do you know the guys?

"Mutual friends." he says vaguely. "What about you?" 

"I met Junhui-hyung at an event? Award ceremony thing? Don't look so impressed, I wasn't even nominated for anything, I was just invited to the after party." Mingyu laughs to himself. "Anyway, I wanted to talk to him because I loved his movies, he seemed so cool."

Jihoon nods. When he first met Jun, he was Soonyoung’s awkward friend from college and now he felt a strange sense of pride, realizing that not everyone knew him before he was such a big deal. 

"I was so surprised when he knew who I was. I mean, I was only just getting started as a model in a small company. Still, we exchanged numbers and a few months later he called me to tell me he knew someone who could design our company a better logo.’’ he chuckles at the memory. ‘’Long story short, I've been friends with Minghao ever since."

Again, Jihoon thinks of the first time he saw Minghao. Back then Soonyoung was adamant that he wanted all his friends to get along well. The amount of times he had been dragged to some college party was infinite. Jihoon had immediately taken a liking to him. They really do grow up fast.

The fondness he felt disappears when he notices that his whole group of friends is chatting quietly and stealing glances towards him and Mingyu. Well, if Minghao hadn't realized before, he definitely knew now. 

Jihoon sighs and is suddenly aware that Mingyu had asked him a question. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that." 

"No, it's my fault for not speaking clearly. I asked what you do for a living."

"Oh. I'm a producer."

Mingyu's eyes light up. "Whοah really? That's so cool, anything that I might have heard of?" 

Jihoon usually hates those kinds of questions but if he gets to brag about his work that he's really proud of, why not do it now? He smirks and shrugs. "I dunno, what type of music do you listen to?" 

"Anything, really." 

Jihoon names some songs of his that have charted the highest. It's mainly b-sides of some up-and-coming groups. 

"Hey, that's like a big deal. You've never told me about this." 

Jihoon thinks he's never really told him much of anything. Not in real life at least. He shrugs again. 

"What can I say, I don't like to brag." 

"Humble _and_ hardworking." Mingyu says and they both laugh like they share their own little moment. 

Time goes by without him realizing and before he knows it Soonyoung is waving at him from the other side of the room. Jihoon shoots him a questioning look, while Mingyu is busy talking to some fans, he assumes. 

He's sure Soonyoung is capable of standing on top of the table if it means he'll get his attention so he quickly pulls out his phone and types a message. 

**from: me**

**What is it????**

**from: Soonyoung**

**are you ready to go? wonwoo is tired**

**okay, im tired. been up since 8 practicing this choreo with chan and my back is killing me.**

**from: me**

**It's not even 10pm yet.**

**from: Soonyoung**

**wait till you reach my age.**

**from: me**

**Do you really need to leave right now?**

**from: Soonyoung**

**yeah man. saturdays are for the boys if you know what I mean;) jk**

**unless you wanna stick around and find another ride?**

Jihoon sighs and turns to Mingyu who has just finished taking selfies with a group of teenagers. 

"Hey so, I gotta go." 

"What? But it's so early." For what it's worth, he looks genuinely disappointed. 

"I came here with my friends and they're basically married so they've given up on life. They desperately wanna go home, probably to catch a show because they're so lame they still watch tv." 

Mingyu smiles bitterly. "Okay then, see you some other time…but hey." 

"Yeah?" he turns hopefully.

"I drove here alone, I can take you home later. If you don't mind staying here until the whole thing is over. I kinda promised Minghao I'd help him clean up." 

Jihoon perks up. "No, I don't mind waiting. I mean, it's better than leaving before some people have even arrived." 

Mingyu flashes a toothy grin and Jihoon can't help but smile back. 

"Yo, Mingyu!" Soonyoung says loud enough to be heard from several feet away. 

"Soonie-hyung Wonwoo-hyung!' Mingyu exclaims and runs towards them. "What's up?" 

"We're here to pick up this grumpy little guy." Jihoon hears Soonyoung say as they approach him. 

"Oh! You're the friends he came with? Ah, I'm so glad we all know each other!" 

Soonyoung stares at Jihoon and if looks could speak, this would be the loudest I-told-you-so ever. 

"Ready to go, Jihoonie?" he asks and leans on him. 

"Actually, is it okay if I leave with Mingyu?" 

Wonwoo raises his eyebrows at the unnecessary formality but doesn't say anything to call him out. He's probably gonna tease him about it afterwards though. 

"Sure, if Mingyu is fine with it." 

"Ah, hyung, I was the one who suggested it." Mingyu laughs and slightly pushes Soonyoung's shoulder. He seems to crack up easily.

After they leave, Jihoon suddenly feels scared and empty. He's really here alone now. No one to take him home if he fucks up. It had been a long time since he even flirted with anyone.

Mingyu's good company. He's funny, knows how to make conversation and is a great listener. Jihoon feels like he's dreaming. A day ago he never would have thought that he'd ever spend the whole evening with Kim Mingyu. 

Most guests start leaving at around 1am. Jihoon watches Minghao as he stands by the door shaking hands with everyone. He looks happy which makes Jihoon smile. He deserved it. 

"Are you sleepy at all?" Mingyu asks him and shakes Jihoon from his thoughts. 

"I sleep later than this so no. You?" 

"Me neither." Mingyu says and then immediately suppresses a yawn. 

Jihoon laughs. "Sure." 

"No, really. I just had a photo shoot this morning so I had to wake up at like 5 am." 

Jihoon cringes. "Won't be long until everyone leaves. If we all help clean up, we'll be over sooner. 

Mingyu nods in agreement. "Everyone left, except this guy." he whispers, suddenly very close to Jihoon's ear which sends tingles down his spine. "Minghao said he's an art critic. He's been here since 6pm. Can he just goooo." Mingyu whines and Jihoon takes a step back. 

"Maybe he's just so amazed by the art he doesn't wanna leave." 

"Could be. If he doesn't buy every single one of Minghao's paintings, I'll be mad.' 

The guy actually leaves shortly after and Minghao walks towards them. "Phew. Sorry that took so long, are you guys tired?" Mingyu yawns in response and Minghao giggles. 

"What did the guy say to you?" Jihoon asks and Minghao huffs. 

"Nothing, really. Kind of infuriating since he was here all afternoon. Oh well, can't win them all." 

"I bet he's just jealous he's not half as talented as you are." Mingyu reassures him, places his hand on his friend's shoulder and yawns again.

"At this rate, your jaw is gonna detach from your head, just go home." 

"But I promised-" 

"You're tired. Don't worry about me cleaning up, I have Jun with me." he winks and points to where Jun is sitting on a chair next to the exit, half asleep. "HEY!" he claps his hands and Jun jumps up. 

"I'm up." 

"Awesome. Grab a broom, I'll fold those chairs." 

* * *

As far as car rides go, the one Jihoon shared with Mingyu wasn't half bad. 

It's only expected that he has a nice car, a black jeep that Jihoon is scared of staining. He climbs on the passenger seat cautiously and closes the door. 

"So, hyung…Where to?" 

Jihoon names his address and Mingyu taps the screen on the GPS in front of them. 

Then he does the thing. It's a basic gesture that shouldn't affect him but Jihoon is only human and feels attraction like everyone else. He unparks the car, putting his hand on Jihoon's headrest and he can only bite his lips to stop himself from staring at Mingyu's flawless side profile, at best. The worst case scenario would be him grabbing him from his collar and kissing him till he can't feel his mouth anymore. 

"Here we are. Is this your house?" 

"Yup." Jihoon clicks his tongue. 

"If it weren't I'd have to throw this thing away." Mingyu chuckles and gestures to the GPS.

"Yeah…Goodnight then." 

"Goodnight, hyung."

Jihoon opens the car door and Mingyu clears his throat. "And hey, listen. Don't be a stranger, text me sometime." 

Jihoon can only nod, trying to hide his surprise and excitement. He gets out of the car and Mingyu drives away just like that.

* * *

He wakes up late. It's no surprise since he went to bed at ass o'clock. But how could he have slept if he was replaying the whole night in his head to make sure it actually happened?

He gets up and miserably wiggles to the shower, turning it on. He checks his phone as he waits for the water to heat. He has a few missed calls and texts from Soonyoung but he doesn't have the energy right now. 

After the shower and a cup of coffee, he throws himself on the couch, opening his laptop. Soonyoung calls again.

"What's up?" 

"Don't tell me you just woke up." 

"I didn't." Jihoon hopes he sounds more awake than what he's feeling. "Also, why did you text me last night at 2am?" he asks, finally opening their chat. "I thought you left early because you were tired." 

“Look, let’s not do this, you know I was lying.”

“Some friend you are.” Jihoon sighs but he can’t actually be mad. Not after he helped him so much last night.

"We would have left early either way." 

"You were the one who wanted me to talk to Mingyu and you'd make me leave him?" 

"In my defense, I didn't think you'd actually go through with it." 

Once again, Jihoon couldn’t argue with him since he didn't either. 

"So did you guys bang?" 

"No one says 'bang'."

"I say bang."

"Well, stop it." 

"For God's sake, Jihoon did you guys do it or what?" 

"No, man we had an actual conversation for the first time. He just drove me home." 

"Lame."

"Shut up you sex-crazed freak.” Jihoon says defensively. “You’ve forgotten how real people act when they like someone." 

"I'll have you know I was once like you." 

"Doubt it. You've been in the same relationship since you were 15; I'm not taking any advice from you." 

"Huge mistake. I was there, I saw you guys. Clearly, there's chemistry! You're telling me he didn't do anything to show you he was interested?" 

Jihoon senses this is going to be a long phone call so he puts his laptop on the coffee table and sits back on the couch. 

"Well, I mean. He did tell me to text him." 

"Oh my, how didn't you jump his bones at that exact instant?" 

"I'm gonna hang up the phone now." 

* * *

He decides to go to the studio at around 5pm. He enters the code and furrows his eyebrows when he sees that the lights are already on. 

"Vern?" 

"Oh hey, hyung." Vernon shows up from under the desk. 

"What the hell are you doing down there?" 

Vernon gets up, banging his head in the process, and dusts himself off. "Uh, looking for something?" 

"All you'll find there is trash." he says but decides not to question any further. Vernon was a weird kid but a very good one. Jihoon leaves his backpack on the couch and sits on his desk chair. 

"Mind if I look inside those drawers?" he asks, rubbing the spot he hit. 

"Knock yourself out." he replies, looking around for his headphones. 

"Thanks! So did you go to the exhibition yesterday?"

"I did."

"I wanted to go too but I had the closing shift at the store and was too tired to-" 

"Chan wasn't there either." 

Vernon blushes. "That's not why. I'd still go." he closes the drawer and raises a notebook triumphantly. 

"You found what you were looking for?" 

"Yeah," Vernon nods."I knew I left it here." 

"What is it?"

"It's just where I write some lyrics." 

"You know you have to let me read those some day." 

"Sure, some day." Vernon says vaguely and sits on the couch, flipping through the pages. "Hyung?" 

"Mhm?" 

"Joshua-hyung said Mingyu was there with you last night." 

Jihoon knows what this means. Soonyoung had been broadcasting his gay business to everyone and if Joshua knew, it wouldn't take long before Jeonghan knew and it'd only go downhill from there. 

"I'm gonna kill Soonyoung."

Vernon frowns. "What does he have to do? Joshua said Mingyu told him." 

Well. This certainly was an unexpected but pleasant development. 

"Really?" 

"Of course. Hyung, I wouldn't lie." 

"I know you wouldn't." Jihoon smiles at the younger and pulls out his phone. 

"What are you gonna do?" 

"Exactly what I was told to do." 

* * *

Jihoon expected texting Mingyu to be more difficult than this. Fortunately for him, the conversation flows easily. Mingyu is also a fast texter which Jihoon appreciates deeply, knowing how busy he must be. 

It's game night at the Jeon/Kwon household. Jihoon knows it's only a matter of time before someone asks him about it. Jun goes for it. 

"Any new developments with Mingyu?" he asks while Soonyoung whines about capitalism. "Shut up, that's my property, you were the one who wanted to play monopoly anyway." 

"Not really. We've been texting." Jihoon replies and rolls the dice. 

"That's something."

"Show us the texts." Minghao says, already on his second glass of wine. 

"What? No." he says and clutches his phone. 

"How else can I tell you if he's flirting?"

What? Jihoon was already kinda assuming Mingyu was, indeed, flirting. He's been sending good morning and good night texts, cute selfies of him on set, voice messages of him laughing at Jihoon's jokes… 

"Mingyu is just very friendly with everyone." Minghao explains and adjusts himself on the couch. "I'm not saying he's not flirting with you but yeah. You never know with him. I keep telling him he always comes off too strong." 

Jihoon feels himself starting to panic so he gives in. "Fine, I'll show you." 

The 4 guys all gather around Jihoon on the chair, staring at his phone screen. 

"Aw, he uses emojis that's cute." Soonyoung points. 

"Yeah…" Jihoon says and scrolls slowly, waiting for everyone to read. 

"He texts back fast. Isn't that a good sign from someone so busy?" Wonwoo asks and pushes up his glasses. 

"Yeah, I thought that too."

"Wait you guys were texting this morning?" Minghao questions over Jihoon's shoulder, looking at the time stamps. 

"Yeah?"

"I'm pretty sure he had a photo shoot today." 

"Maybe it was over by then?" Jun offers. 

"I don't think so." Minghao looks deep in thought and Jihoon shrugs. 

"Can't you idiots see? He's so whipped he texts him even when he's at work, getting his makeup done or whatever." Soonyoung exclaims. 

"It's possible." Minghao says. "Ah, hyung, don't you want me to just ask him?" 

"NO!" Jihoon refuses. "No, definitely don't do that." 

They all look at him disapprovingly and sit back on their spots to continue their game.

* * *

Jihoon stays up until late at night (or early in the morning) working at the studio the next day. 

His phone rings and he picks it up, seeing that it's Seungcheol. 

"I'm both relieved and angry that you're awake." 

"You know I can't leave when I'm on a roll. And why are you awake?" 

Seungcheol ignores him. "Have you checked the group chat?" he asks instead, referring to the group chat with all of their friends. 

"Uh no, wait." he says and unlocks his phone. "600 new messages, what the fuck were you talking about?"

"Yeah, it's a mess when everyone is online. I'll spare you the details, you don't have to read the whole thing." But Jihoon will, like he always does. 

"Basically, Joshua is planning a surprise birthday party for Jeonghan tomorrow. He's gonna be at the office all day and when he comes home we'll all be there." 

"Oh." Jihoon says and feels the guilt creeping up for forgetting it was already his friend's birthday. "Yeah, sure, I'll be there. Should I bring anything?" 

"Ask Joshua. And get your ass back home and go to sleep." 

Jihoon rolls his eyes and hangs up the phone. He picks up his things while typing a message to Joshua, telling him he's sorry for not seeing it earlier and whether or not he should bring anything. 

He goes home, reads all the messages in the group chat, plugs in his phone and goes to sleep. 

* * *

He arrives at the party at 8pm, bottles of juice in hand. Joshua had texted him that they were fine on snacks and drinks but he still felt bad for forgetting the birthday in the first place. 

Vernon opens the door and lets him in. "Hyung, welcome." 

"Hey, Vern. Where's Joshua?" 

Vernon makes a face and gestures to where Joshua was in the living room, sweeping like a mad man. "I guess he's a little behind on schedule?" 

"Wonwoo, keep your feet up, I have to reach this spot under the couch. Jihoon! Come in! Take off your FUCKING shoes." 

Jihoon does as he's told and Vernon sighs and follows him to the kitchen. "I don't know why he's acting like that. It's not even a surprise, Jeonghan is the one who asked for it." he says, doing air quotes at 'surprise'. 

"I think it's sweet," a voice says, that Jihoon recognizes as Chan's. He turns around to see him entering the kitchen. "They've been together for so long but they're still romantic, they keep the spark alive, you know." 

"Totally, yeah. Romance, I'm with you." Vernon nods and Jihoon suppresses an eye roll. "I agree, I mean." 

Chan giggles and Jihoon takes that as his cue to leave. If obliviousness was a person, it'd be Vernon. 

He goes to the living room where Seungcheol is putting up decorations with Seungkwan. 

"Happy birthday, princess?" Jihoon reads the pink banner. 

"It was the only thing they had at the store on such short notice. Go ahead, laugh it up." Seungkwan says, fed up. 

Jihoon raises his palms and Seungkwan softens. 

"Normally, I enjoy party planning but there's no time." 

"I enjoy party planning." Soonyoung says in a mocking tone from the couch where he's tying the balloons Wonwoo is blowing. "Who enjoys party planning? You're so gay." 

Seungkwan turns and looks at him with a disgusted expression. "You're sitting with your boyfriend, blowing balloons and I'm the gay one?" 

"He's the one doing the blowing, I'm tying them. It's called being practical." 

Seungkwan doesn't even grace him with an answer as he turns back to the brightly colored banner and Jihoon briefly thinks he loves his idiot friends. 

* * *

When Jeonghan comes home from work, he has the decency to act surprised. He laughs at the decoration which makes Seungkwan retreat to the bathroom, furious until Joshua drags him back and tells him to stop ruining the mood.

It's a nice time, Jihoon always has fun with his friends. Vernon has connected the speakers to his laptop and plays music which he appreciates. If he trusts any of his friends' music tastes, it's Vernon's. 

He sees Mingyu coming in when Seokmin asks him for the name of the rap song that's currently playing. Jihoon wants to walk towards Vernon and ask him, he really does. However, one look at Mingyu has his knees shaking. 

He's so ridiculously hot with his black leather pants, silky black buttoned down and pushed back hair. Jihoon immediately feels Soonyoung's presence next to him. 

"You're not gonna get mad at me for not telling you Mingyu was coming this time, are you?" 

"No." Jihoon gulps. "But I do feel like I might throw up." 

"I can see why. Why is he so dressed up?" 

"Not everyone comes to parties in sweatpants, Soon." 

"You gotta stop showing up like that." Jihoon tells Wonwoo and hands him his solo cup. "Should I go talk to him, wait for him to come to me, completely ignore him?" 

"Calm down, for starters." Soonyoung offers and stands behind him to rub his shoulders. "How many drinks have you had?" 

"Uh. Four?" 

"Why on earth?" 

"I don't fucking know. I wanted to relax a bit, I've been so tense all week." Jihoon explains and he feels like he's about to cry. 

"Hey, want me to get Mingyu drunk before you talk to him?" 

"Yes, please do that." 

"Both of you are crazy." Wonwoo says and gives the drink to someone who passes them. Jihoon just then realises that he can't recognize anyone who isn't from his friend group. He thinks they might be Jeonghan's clients and that thought is very amusing. "Sober Jihoon would slap us in the face if he knew we're letting him go talk to Mingyu while wast-." he stops when Mingyu appears in front of them. 

"Do you three just go everywhere together?" Mingyu asks, hands in his pockets, smile on his face. Of course his teeth are perfect too, Jihoon notices for the first time. 

He's also wearing boots which make him even taller and Jihoon can do nothing but stare. 

"Only when there's no one more interesting to talk to." Drunk Jihoon takes charge.

"Hurtful." Soonyoung mumbles but Mingyu doesn't hear, he's too busy laughing. 

Jihoon's friends disappear shortly after but he doesn't care enough to look for them. Maybe tomorrow when he's sober and hungover he will but for now he's with Mingyu and he realizes he actually missed him. For so long, he was watching him for afar but now that he had spent some time with him, he craved more. 

"Well, you were fashionably late." he tells him after they've sat down on some huge cushions on the floor. 

"I know, photo shoot again." he says and tries to get comfortable. The visual of Mingyu trying to fold himself is so funny but Jihoon tries not to laugh in his face. In the end, he sits with his knees reaching his ears. 

"Why don't you take off your shoes?" 

"No one wants to smell that." It was Jihoon's turn to laugh. 

Vernon has changed the playlist and right now 'Yeah!' by Usher, is playing. It might be the music, it might be the dimmed lights, it might be the alcohol but Jihoon feels way too brave tonight. Okay, it's most likely the alcohol.

"That's the outfit you wore at the photo shoot?" he yells enough to be heard over the music.

"Yeah, they let me keep the clothes most of the time. Do you like it?" 

_It would look better on my floor._

"Ah yeah?" Mingyu raises an eyebrow.

In horror he realises that he said it out loud. 

"Hahaha. Yeah, you know, how that's like. An expression." he says desperately but he feels dizzy suddenly. 

"Aha." Mingyu nods but he looks so cocky it's making Jihoon both nervous and turned on. 

"Aren't you gonna drink anything?" 

"Nah, I drove here. Plus I have to wake up early again tomorrow for this gig." he says. "Feel free to drink more if you'd like, though. I like drunk Jihoon." 

"Drunk Jihoon likes you too." He's never this straightforward. If he doesn't get the hint, it means that he's not interested and Jihoon can finally move on. 

Mingyu smiles ear to ear again and then tries to get up. "Hey, I should talk to the others too. Wish happy birthday to Jeonghan..." 

"Oh right yeah. Look at me, keeping you all to myself." 

"You can do that some other time." Mingyu winks and it would be sexy if he didn't fall on his ass right the next second. 

"And I'm the drunk one?" 

"Shut up, this is hard." he pouts.

When he finally gets up, Jihoon watches him briefly talk to Jeonghan and Joshua. They seem familiar with each other to the point where he wonders if all of his friends were that close with him and he just had no idea because he never wanted to talk about him. That thought vanishes when Jeonghan bats his eyelashes and laughs as he feels Mingyu's bicep at which Jihoon feels more understanding than jealous. 

Then he sees him pulling Minghao by the arm and dragging him in the kitchen, leaving Jihoon's line of sight. 

Is that a bad sign? Oh my God, he's probably telling him that Jihoon is creepy. He's probably asking him to make an excuse for him so he can leave. Did he say he had to wake up early before or after he basically admitted he wanted to fuck him? Jihoon can't remember in his drunken state so he makes a beeline for the bathroom. 

He splashes water on his face and contemplates putting his entire head under the faucet but decides against it. He puts the toilet seat down and sits on it. 

_I'll just sit here for a couple of minutes._

Then, someone knocks on the door. 

"Occupied." 

"Yeah, I know, you've been in there for so long a line has started to form outside." 

Jihoon looks at his reflection in the mirror. He thinks he still looks drunk but he can't do anything about it now. 

"What are you talking about, I just got in here." 

Soonyoung bursts inside. "I thought you drowned in the toilet or something." he says looking around. "You've been here for like an hour. Mingyu is looking for you, I think he's leaving soon." 

"What? But I just-" 

"You've lost track of time,” he concludes. “How drunk are you?" 

"It's not just that. I'm really dizzy too." 

"Oh, are you gonna be sick?" he asks, concerned but taking a step back.

"No, I'm fine. You said Mingyu is leaving?" 

"I think so." 

"Ah, Soonie I did something stupid." he ducks and hides his face in his hands. 

"Aw, what is it?", he sits on the edge of the bathtub and begins rubbing Jihoon's back. "I'm sure it couldn't have been that bad." 

"I told him his outfit would look better on my floor." 

"Okaaaay." he nods. To his credit he tries not to laugh, which Jihoon appreciates "A little bold. What did he say?" 

"I mean, he seemed cool about it but after that he left to talk to Minghao so…" 

Soonyoung hums. "Okay, this is a good thing. You made your move and now he knows! Ball's in his court. STOP KNOCKING! MY FRIEND IS HAVING BOY TROUBLES, GO PEE IN THE KITCHEN SINK." 

"Thanks." 

"No problem. Go find him! Although, judging by how he's been asking everyone about you, I think your chances are pretty good." 

Mingyu is on the couch, playing on his phone, seemingly bored. His face lights up when he sees Jihoon. He comes closer and stands in front of him. 

“I’m juiced.”

Mingyu raises an eyebrow.

“Plastered, hammered, smashed, under the influence.” Jihoon explains. “More than I thought I was.”

"I don’t even know what half of those words mean so you proved your point,” he gets up and struggles to put his phone inside that tight pocket of those tight, tight pants. Jihoon tries not to stare. Why does he have to be funny too? "I'm afraid I'm the one who has to leave early this time." 

"Wait, wait. Am I gonna be a jerk if I ask for another ride?" 

"Not at all." he smiles. "Did you drive here? I can ask someone to bring your car home for you." 

"No, no I came on foot." Jihoon explains. "You can go, I'll take another trip to the bathroom real quick." 

"I'll say goodbye to everyone and then meet you downstairs?" 

"Sounds cool." 

Jihoon runs to the bathroom and calls Jeonghan. 

"Jihoon-ah? Are you calling me from the bathroom, where I just saw you running to?" 

"Yes." 

"On my way." 

Jihoon leaves his phone on the counter, feeling grateful. Jeonghan never asks questions. If Jihoon ever needed to hide a body or smuggle something into the country, he'd call him. 

"Please tell me you're wearing pants." 

"Just get in, I'm dressed." 

"Does this have anything to do with Mingyu leaving just now?" he asks while opening the door. 

"What do you think?" 

"My instincts say yes but then again, he said you're leaving together and you're in my bathroom instead of climbing him like the big sexy tree he is." 

Jihoon is too tired to reply back. "Do you have a spare toothbrush? Or something I can use to freshen up?" he asks instead. 

"Sure." Jeonghan starts digging inside the drawers. "I've told Joshua to stop rearranging everything all the damn time." 

"I'm kinda in a hurry." 

"You're in good hands." he tells him and hands him a toothbrush and a container of tiny toothpaste. 

"Did you steal this from a hotel?"

"I paid for it, it's mine" 

Jihoon starts brushing his teeth, trying to ignore the blur of reflection he sees on the mirror. Jeonghan is doing the most, brushing his hair and spraying him with cologne. 

He spits the mouthwash and spins around until he gets dizzier. "How do I look?" 

"Like you always do. But you smell like me now so that's an improvement." 

* * *

Jihoon is ready to leave shortly after. A few reassuring pats on the back and he's out the door. He's waiting for the elevator to arrive when the front door opens and Minghao exits the apartment. 

"Oh, good you're still here. Hyung, listen-" 

"Is it urgent? Cause I'm standing up Kim Mingyu." 

"Yeah, I know, that's what I wanna talk to you about." 

"Please, hurry." Jihoon says and as the elevator arrives, he opens it and steps one foot inside. 

"I don't know if I'm doing the right thing by telling you because I promised I wouldn't get in between you-" 

"Minghao, I am literally begging you." 

"Fine. Mingyu lied. He wasn't at a photo shoot before, he just said it to impress you. He was at home trying to find the perfect outfit." 

"Wh-" 

"And when he was texting you that morning? He was actually still on set, texting secretly. He almost got fired, hyung." 

"Oh." 

"Yeah. Do what you want with that information but he definitely likes you. Like a lot. Also don't tell Jun I told you because he is literally going to- COMING BABE, JUST GETTING SOME FRESH AIR." he says over his shoulder and then turns to Jihoon. "Go, leave!" he pushes him inside the elevator and Jihoon sees him go back inside as the doors slide to close. 

* * *

That's all Jihoon needed to make an advance, especially a quite drunk Jihoon. He leaves the building and scans the parking lot for Mingyu's sexy jeep. Mingyu rolls down a window and waves at him. He takes a deep breath and goes to him. 

"Who's fashionably late now?" 

"Sorry about that." Jihoon climbs inside. 

The drive is quiet, Mingyu is probably not talking to allow Jihoon to fall asleep but he has other things on his mind. He slowly lifts his hand and places it on Mingyu's thigh. 

"Where is that hand going?" he asks cautiously. 

"Where do you want it to go?" 

Mingyu presses his lips into a thin line, like he's hiding a smile. "Right now, nowhere. But we can talk about it later." 

"Aw come on, why not?" 

Mingyu shakes his head. "I'm gonna say this cause you're wasted and won't remember it tomorrow." 

Jihoon nods and Mingyu pulls over to the side of the empty road and runs a hand through his hair, ruining them but, of course, he still looks just as good with his bangs on his face. 

"I like you very much and as much as I want this to happen, I can't like this." 

"Like what?" 

"Like that." he gestures to Jihoon's hand, still resting on his thigh but doesn't attempt to remove it. "First of all, I can't take advantage of a drunk person." 

"Please." he scoffs and scoots closer. "I've wanted this for months, you have my full consent." 

"Months, huh?" he raises an eyebrow. 

"Yeah, don't act like you didn't know." 

"I really didn't until today. You never reached out. To be honest, I thought you specifically disliked me. I was always out with your friends and you were never there. When I finally saw you at Jun’s party, you barely spoke to me. Why?” he doesn’t sound hurt, just confused. 

"Because, I'm an idiot." he says simply. "I was scared, I never thought you'd be interested. I figured, if I never talked to you, you could never reject me.”

"Hyung…" 

"No, let me talk now that I have the courage." he says and hiccups. "It was hard enough to have to watch you from afar for that long. Man, do you know how many songs I've written about you?"

"How many?" Mingyu looks like he's enjoying it way too much. Who wouldn't? 

"I don't know, they're stupid, they never made it outside the studio. The lyrics aren't exactly clever. It's just me saying I wanna kiss you. You can come over and listen to them sometime." he says suggestively. "Or reenact them."

"I really would love that." he says sincerely. "But how about you ask me tomorrow morning?" 

"If you think, my infatuation with you will vanish when the night is over, you're mistaken." 

"Oh, I think you won't even remember this conversation once you exit this car." 

"Wrong! I'll prove it to you." 

"Can't wait." 

Jihoon is starting to realize that his chances of him getting laid are steadily decreasing. 

"Fine then, just take me home. You're the first person to ever deny a blowjob." 

Mingyu erupts into a loud obnoxious laugh which would be offensive if it wasn't so cute. 

"I almost wanna record you and make you hear yourself next time we meet." 

"And when is that gonna be?" 

Mingyu shrugs. "Probably sometime when we're both not busy the next day. Also somewhere where you can stay sober." 

"Don't make it sound like I'm an alcoholic." Jihoon groans and Mingyu laughs and starts the car again. 

* * *

He wakes by a loud bang on the door. It's not long before he realises he has a throbbing headache and the aftertaste of puke on the back of his throat. Jihoon wants to ignore whoever that is but they're only getting more persistent so he forces himself to leave the comfort of his bed. 

Whatever he expected, it wasn't Joshua and Jeonghan, dressed for work. What time is it again? 

Jeonghan pushes him aside and enters the apartment. "Your toxic trait is disappearing for hours without leaving signs that you're alive." 

Jihoon rubs his eye. "Sorry, I stayed up late for _your_ party." 

"Yeah, I know I'm just being a dick." 

"Why are you guys here so early anyway?" 

"Well, we were curious about what went down! We knew you wouldn't pick up the phone so we came before work." 

Joshua comes inside and closes the front door with his foot, since he's holding three coffee cups and a paper bag. "We went by Seungkwan's and got you this. Also we told him about you and he gave us these on the house." he leaves the bag on the kitchen table. "They're powdered doughnuts, do you want one now?"

"Yes, anything. I threw up last night but I can still taste that hotel toothpaste." he says and digs around the bag. 

"You still haven't thrown it away?" Joshua shoots a judgy look at Jeonghan. 

"Am I the only one in this family who cares about our finances?" 

Joshua rolls his eyes and goes to pour Jihoon a glass of water. "So… what happened yesterday?" 

"He drove me home." he says and bites into his breakfast, licking the chocolate that drips.

"We know that. But what did you do? Did you say anything stupid?" 

Jihoon frowns like he's trying to recall. "I wanna say no? I really don't remember." 

"Well, what do you remember?" 

"Uh…We agreed to meet up again."

"That's good." Joshua says reassuringly. "He wouldn't have suggested that if you were weird." 

"I guess…" 

Jeonghan squints his eyes. "Did you guys do anything else?" 

"Ugh no. He said he didn't wanna take advantage of me."

"Told you he wouldn't try anything while Jihoon was drunk." Joshua nudges Jeonghan who shakes his head.

"I can't believe I wasted that toothpaste for nothing." 

Jihoon takes the last bite from his doughnut and collapses on the kitchen chair. 

"Why does he have to be the most respectful and perfect boy ever?" 

"Oh yeah, poor you, eat a dick." 

"I wish." 

Joshua laughs and looks at his wrist watch. "We have to get going." 

Jihoon is too tired to show them out so he just raises his glass of water as they walk towards the door.

"If anything happens, don't hesitate to call and let us know." Joshua says. 

"You're way too invested in this." 

"Can you blame me? We've waited so long to see you make a move." 

"Yeah, yeah. Don't you have kids to teach?"

* * *

A bit later, when he's finally alone, he decides to text Mingyu.

**from: me**

**hey**

**from: Mingyu**

**You're up awfully early.**

**Oh god tell me you didn't pull an all nighter**

**from: me**

**No no don't worry about me**

**from: Mingyu**

**impossible <3**

Jihoon is glad that no one is here to hear him giggling like a school-girl. 

**from: me**

**Had a great time last night**

**from: Mingyu**

**you mean besides the puking** **>.<**

Jihoon furrows his eyebrows. How did he know about that?

**from: me**

**wdym? i only puked when I got home?**

**from: Mingyu**

**hyung :'(**

**can I call you?**

Jihoon thinks that if he ever says no to that question, that would mean the world is ending so he replies yes and sees Mingyu's contact name popping up. 

"You really don't remember most things from last night?" is the first thing he says. 

"Enlighten me." 

"Okay so, firstly you threw up 3 times. One of which was inside my car. The other one was right outside your building, the janitor wasn't too happy about that, and then the last one at the comfort or your own home." 

Embarrassing memories from last night come flooding and Jihoon can only facepalm. "I threw up in your car." 

"You threw up in my car."

"And you still talk to me? If someone let out all their lunch inside my vehicle I would have already deleted their contact by now." 

Mingyu snickers. "How could I do that when you were so cute when you called me afterwards? You were all like _'help my throat is sore and not in a good way'._ "

"I called you too?" They had an entire phone conversation in which Jihoon made inappropriate dick sucking jokes and he didn't even remember? 

"Yes. Check your recents." 

Jihoon opens the phone app and sees that he indeed called Mingyu last night at 2am. 

"I'm really fucking sorry. I must have kept you up and you had work in the morning." 

"I mean, it still was really amusing." 

None of them say anything for a while but Jihoon doesn't wanna hang up yet. 

"Hey, about that car ride last night..." 

"I was wondering if you were gonna bring that up." 

"Why w- oh fuck, I said some dumb shit, didn't I?" 

"Aw, what makes you say that?" 

"So, I didn't?" 

"No, you definitely did…" Mingyu says. "Why don't you tell me what you do remember?" 

Jihoon had already tried to replay the parts of the night he did remember. Seeing Mingyu, talking to Wonwoo and Soonyoung, getting ready with Jeonghan, leaving with Mingyu, vomiting multiple times, apparently… 

"I really don't think I said anything too bad." he says. Otherwise why would he still wanna be his friend, or whatever they currently are? "I'm confident I was pretty smooth." 

"..." 

"What?" 

"Hyung, you literally begged me to let you to suck my dick." 

"I did what now?" 

Mingyu starts laughing so hard, Jihoon starts to worry he can't breathe. 

"I knew it! I told you, you wouldn't remember! Ah, it's so funny." 

"Um." Jihoon starts walking around the living room, running a hand through his hair, a sign of pure stress "Just to be clear, you said no, right?" 

"Of course I said no. If you had sucked my dick and then had no memory of it, I'd be pretty offended." 

Jihoon himself would be offended if he had his first sexual experience with Mingyu and then didn't remember it, like a fucking dumbass. 

"Alright…What else did we talk about? Besides me admitting that I'm sexually attracted to you. Just in case that wasn't obvious."

He hears movement and pillows shuffling on the other line. He hopes Mingyu is at home and in bed. 

"It was, and I made it pretty clear too." 

"...How exactly?" 

Mingyu hums vaguely. "This is an unusual experience. Usually when we like someone, we describe the things we did with them to our friends. I get the opportunity to tell them to you. This is so fun, you should get drunk more often. Except then we'd never do what you so desperately wanted." 

"What if we were both drunk?" Jihoon senses this conversation is actually going somewhere so he walks to his bedroom, opens his closet and starts picking out an outfit he's pretty sure he'll need for tonight. 

"No, no." Mingyu says. "Hyung, listen. I really wanna do this right." 

"What do you mean?" 

"I don't want us to just… go to a bar and then have drunk sex. Although, that does sound great." That Jihoon can agree with. "I want us to actually go on a proper date, get to know each other. I wanna take you out, what do you say?" 

"Imagine if I said no." 

"I still had to ask…Your pick, my treat of course." 

"You're gonna buy me dinner after I ruined your beautiful car seat?" 

"Aw, but you tried to clean it up yourself." 

"How?" Jihoon asks and sits on his bed. 

"You felt so bad you told me you were going to put it back where it came from, so you grabbed a handful and-" 

"I TRIED TO EAT MY OWN PUKE?" 

"I can't believe you fell for that. Can you imagine if you had? I could just say anything and you'd believe it." 

Jihoon laughs. "You're an ass." 

"An ass you're going on a date with." 

He was and he was going to remember every minute of it.

* * *

Mingyu had told him to text him any ideas about where to go later and Jihoon was still brainstorming. He didn't want it to be anything too fancy since he was wasn't the one paying but he also wanted it to be cool and interesting 

So why was he at the dance studio, asking Soonyoung for advice? 

"Easy." he said once Jihoon explained the situation. "McDonald's." 

"You're disgusting." 

"But think about it. It's cheap, has good food and also doesn't have alcohol." 

"Although, McWine should have been a thing by now." 

"You're not helping." Jihoon tells Wonwoo who was picking up Soonyoung for their lunch break. 

"Let the man speak. That's genius, Wonwoo, write it down." 

"I don't even know why I'm asking you of all people." Jihoon says.

"Uh, because we're the most romantic amongst all your loser friends?" 

"Joshua-hyung is pretty romantic." Chan says and comes to join them, wiping the sweat of his forehead with a towel. "Did you guys know that for his first date with Jeonghan hyung he-" 

"Yeah, yeah, he took him stargazing, we've only heard the story like a million times." Soonyoung flaps his arm around. "Hey, how do you spell "Mc"? With an 'a'?"

"No. And I'm not taking him there." 

"Fine, suit yourself." 

"Soon, we gotta get going, I have to open the store at 5." Wonwoo says and wears his mailman bag. "What do you wanna eat?" 

Soonyoung puts his hands on his hips. "Well, now I want McDonald's." 

"Okay, let's go." 

Soonyoung squeals and grabs his hoodie. "See? That's romance.” he tells Jihoon. "Channie, don't wait up!" 

"Okay?" Chan says and unlocks his phone, looking disappointed. 

"Something wrong?" Jihoon asks when they're left alone. 

"Vernon." 

"Ah, yes."

"It's just that. I've been sending him things to show him I'm thinking about him and all he texts back is this." 

Chan holds up his phone and Jihoon squints. 

"The sunglasses emoji?" 

"Not exactly an inviting text, I know." 

"I'm probably the last person that should be giving you dating advice but Vernon is… he needs more obvious gestures. Dropping hints isn't enough." 

"It's just frustrating, you know." 

"I get it." Jihoon sighs and goes to tell Chan he's about to take off when his phone rings. 

"Hey!" Mingyu said loud enough for Chan to hear and giggle. 

"Hey…" Jihoon says and lowers the volume. 

"Did you figure out where we'll be going yet?" he asks. "I need to dress appropriately." 

"I'm sure that all eyes will be on you, no matter what you wear. But no, I haven't." 

"So smooth, Jihoonie-hyung…Where are you right now?" 

"At the dance studio, I'm about to leave. Chan is here." he puts the phone on speaker.

"HEY, CHANNIE!" 

"HI, HYUNG!" 

"HEY, SOONYOUNG-HYUNG."

"He just left." 

"Oh, where did he go?" 

"Just went to lunch with Wonwoo at McDonald's." Jihoon says and rolls his eyes. 

"For real? I haven't been there in years." 

"I know it's stup-"

"I miss it, though." he sounds like he's reminiscing. "Ah, hyung now I'm gonna think about it for the rest of the day. I was already hungry." 

"Well, we uh…" Jihoon looks at Chan who's trying not to laugh. "We could go today?" 

"Awesome! I'll pick you up." he says and Jihoon hangs up before he can hear Chan's obnoxious laughter. 

"Not a word to Soonyoung." 

Chan mimics zipping his mouth. 

* * *

As soon as Jihoon surpassed the initial first date jitters, he actually started to have a nice time.

Mingyu certainly helped. He was wearing a dark grey sweater and black sweatpants, completely casual but still gorgeous. 

"We finally meet at day time." he joked.

"Took us long enough." 

Mingyu picks up the menu and puts it next to his face, like he's trying to prevent anyone else from hearing. 

"Technically, I'm supposed to be on a diet. I think my manager would actually kill me if she saw me here." 

"That's ridiculous, you look great." 

Mingyu moves his hand around like he's saying yeah well… 

"You look great too, by the way. I love your outfit." 

"That? It's nothing." he says and adjusts his denim jacket.

"Aw, you got shy. It's cute." Mingyu says and taps on the table. "Huge difference with what you said at the party." 

"Oh, God." he hides his face in his palms. "That I do remember." 

"Well, at least you were honest." 

It almost felt… refreshing? Jihoon had never been on a date where the person already knew what he was thinking. Usually, it took a long time for someone to break down his walls but now with Mingyu it was different. They were doing everything backwards and Jihoon loved that.

"Sorry that I brought you here of all places…" 

"Don't be. I don't care about the restaurant." he says and gestures around. "It's not like I came here for the food, I came for you." he reaches and pinches his nose. "Although, I'd kill for some fries right about now." 

"Right, we should order." Jihoon says, feeling flustered.

After their orders are placed and Mingyu has paid (a black card in McDonald's??) without making a fuss about it or showing off like the humble king he is, they return to their booth. Mingyu sips his ice tea.

"That is so weird but since I like you, I won't make fun of it." 

"If I'm gonna eat trash, I should drink something healthy." 

"That's basically sugar." 

"Shhh…" Mingyu winks and eats a fry. Jihoon bites a, still too hot, chicken nugget and starts waving his hand in front of his mouth.

"Ahh, hot." 

"Have some of my drink." Mingyu says and passes him the cup, a little too clumsily, and before Jihoon can catch it, it falls on his lap, completely staining him. 

"AH SHIT." 

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry." Mingyu says and quickly grabs a handful of napkins that were on the table, those that Jihoon always hated for being too rough and too small. 

Mingyu keeps spilling out so many apologies that no one would have thought that Jihoon was the one that threw up in his car the night before. 

"It's fine, Mingyu, really. Don't beat yourself up about it." 

"But, hyung, it looks really uncomfortable. Let me help you at least." 

Mingyu stands up straight and Jihoon stares, seeing how tall he is still being a surprise. 

They go to the men's room and Mingyu hands him wet paper towels. 

"I don't think that's helping." he said, reluctantly rubbing his crotch. "It's just making it spread everywhere." 

Jihoon hadn't even probably finished his sentence when Mingyu ducked, put his arms around his thighs and raised him up close to the dryer. 

"What the hell are you-" 

"The towels didn't help. This is our only option. I don't want you to walk out and have everyone think you pissed yourself." 

Jihoon may be a lot of things but he wasn't stupid. Why would he deny the opportunity to be held up by Mingyu, even in this scenario, where he thinks his underwear are gonna smell like peach ice tea. 

The loud sound the dryer makes is helping Jihoon avoid the awkwardness. What type of small talk would one make when their long time crush is cradling them because he is so adorably clumsy? After all, he was only trying to help. 

The abnormally long minute finally ends and Mingyu puts him down carefully. Jihoon sees him touching his forearms and raises an eyebrow. 

"Don't give me that, you're heavier than you look." 

"I do lift, occasionally." 

"What else don't I know about you?" 

"Guess, you'll have to find out the next time we go out." Jihoon simply says and Mingyu chuckles. 

"So there's gonna be a next time." 

"I do not want this to be considered our first date. Of course I'm taking you out again." 

Mingyu smiles again. "But you did just technically ask me out in a McDonald's bathroom." 

"No, I didn't. Come on, let's go so I can ask you in the parking lot." 

"I don't know if that's much better." Mingyu says and pushes the bathroom door with his foot. 

* * *

After they've left the restaurant, they're walking in the parking lot, trying to spot Mingyu's car. 

"If I was that rich, I'd just fly everywhere with my helicopter." Jihoon jokes and chews the straw of his coca cola. 

"Mmm, impractical. I just use it to go to my private island." he looks in his pockets for his car keys. "Hey, isn't that Soonyoung with Wonwoo?" 

Jihoon squints. Yes, it definitely is. 

"Nah, it's not them." 

"No, but it is. Look." he points at the pair who are just now exiting the building. 

"Could be any two guys." 

"But that one is wearing glasses and they seem close. Oh, they're looking this way." 

"Let's not disturb them, let's g-" 

"HEY!!! HEY GUYS!" Mingyu goes on his tiptoes and starts waving. His total disregard for anything Jihoon has to say is almost annoying. Almost. 

Soonyoung waves back, grabs Wonwoo by the hand and runs towards them. 

"Well, well. Look who's here." 

"Aren't you supposed to be back to work by now?" 

"We had left, just came back to get something for Channie." he holds the takeout bag in front of Jihoon's face. 

"A happy meal?" 

"He just wants the toy." Wonwoo says. 

"Shut up, they give Mario figurines." 

"Well. You should get going, before it gets cold." Jihoon says and makes a mental note to kill Chan who most definitely asked for food on purpose. 

"Fiiiiine." Soonyoung says and smirks. "It was nice seeing you guys. I can't believe you actually took my advice." 

Jihoon lowers his cap, like he's trying to hide his red cheeks. "I can't believe it either." 

"Yet, you're sitting here with your coke and your boyfriend, almost like you're enjoying yourself." 

Jihoon winces at 'boyfriend' but Mingyu just wraps a strong arm around his shoulders. "Does he always complain like that?" 

"Yup. Never about you though."

"Did you just... compliment Mingyu for me?" 

"I'm the reason this is happening." 

"...Sadly true." 

* * *

Even with Jihoon's promise that he’ll call him in just a few hours, it’s still hard for Mingyu to let him get out of the car. He begs for “Just one more kiss” at least three times, until Jihoon is finally opening the door. However, he lingers outside of it for a moment, letting the cold air in as he tries to make himself let Mingyu out of his sight.

It's strange. He's lived without Mingyu for his entire life but now that he finally has him, he can't leave him. He finally sighs, takes off his cap and throws it on the passenger seat, where he had been sitting. 

“Since you seem like such a lost puppy right now, consider it proof of my word. I’m not just gonna give you my hat forever, so you can be sure I’ll see you in a few hours to get it back. All right?”

Mingyu looks at him like the human version of the pleading eyes emoji and Jihoon smirks. 

"You're giving me your hat?" 

"I said it's just temporary." 

"Still, still." Mingyu grabs the cap and puts it on. It's a little small but he looks so happy that Jihoon is tempted to grab his face and kiss him again. 

"How do I look?" 

"Like a fucking idiot." 

"You shit." he laughs and takes it off. 

"Why aren't you driving away then?" 

"I'm trying to think of something impactful to say." 

"Oh my God, just leave." 

Mingyu does. But Jihoon catches a glimpse of him in the rear view mirror and thinks about it for the rest of the day.

* * *

"Let's start with what you're definitely not wearing." Minghao said and opened Jihoon's closet. Jihoon watched him as he threw his hoodies on the bed and made faces at almost all of his pairs of pants. 

"I called you here to help me." 

"Trust me, I'm helping you." he said and threw another sweater on the floor. "Did you grandma buy this for you?" 

Jihoon groans and sits on the bed. "I'm gonna cancel. I'm not gonna go." 

"Sure, you're totally gonna cancel a date with Kim Mingyu at an expensive restaurant." 

"I'll tell him he can come over instead." 

Minghao sighs. "Hyung… I know you've waited for this for a long time," he sits next to him, "but you should let Mingyu catch up. Let him spoil you a little if he wants to." 

"But I have nothing to wear. He's probably gonna look like a Greek God and I'm just…me." Jihoon says. "I mean. I don't know if you noticed but I came to your art exhibit in a flannel shirt." 

"Don't remind me." Minghao pinches the bridge of his nose. "But if you could pick him up there that means he really doesn't care about what you wear." 

"Are you saying I should just dress casually? Go to the restaurant in slippers?" Jihoon jokes. 

Minghao's eyes grow comically at the sound of that. "Hyung, he might not care but they're gonna kick you out of there so fast if you so much as not wear a tie." 

"I'm just messing with you," he says. "Alright fine. I'll wear whatever you tell me to." 

"I'm afraid we're gonna have to take drastic measures though." 

"What does that mean?" Jihoon questions as he watched Minghao fish his phone out of his pocket and dial a number. 

"Shua-hyung? Yeah, it's me. We need your help."

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Jihoon barely went shopping himself. Buying shirts online seemed to be all he did in that department these days. So going to the mall with Minghao and Joshua was definitely an experience. 

Minghao was dragging him into all of his favorite shops and Joshua tried to make him try on the most ridiculous outfits. As if Jihoon would ever wear a rainbow striped sweater. 

Turns out Minghao and Joshua didn't really agree on things themselves. Joshua was being sensible, showing Jihoon things that were on sale, looking at the prices. Minghao on the other hand told Jihoon that he would even pay for the difference himself which made Joshua roll his eyes. 

The sixth time that Joshua pulled the curtain on the changing room while Jihoon was half naked he gave him a pair of black pants. 

"Everything okay? You seem kinda…" 

"Angry? No, it's okay, Minghao and I just have different styles. In the sense that I have one and he doesn't." Joshua said and took back the clothes that Jihoon had rejected. 

"You're just saying that cause you're mad." Jihoon said and tried to cover himself up with the bottom of the curtain. 

Joshua sighed. "I know… rough day at work." 

"Found these. They're pretty cheap, I guess." Minghao joins them in the little confined space. "Oh, you're already trying them on." 

"Yeah, Joshua just brought the same pair. See, you're agreeing, now close the damn thing, the whole store has seen my underwear."

They stand outside while Jihoon zips his pants. He hears them apologizing and sighs, relieved. 

That relief is immediately washed away by disappointment when Joshua and Minghao suddenly agree that they don't even like this store, so they get in line and wait for Jihoon to pay for the pants they chose. ("You're still buying those, they go with everything and you have no nice clothes.") 

Next, it was Joshua's turn to drag them to the thrift store. 

"Don't be lazy, it's like a block away from the mall." Joshua said when Jihoon made a face. "You're gonna love it, you can find some really good _vintage_ pieces there." And maybe it's the way he pronounces 'vintage' with his American accent that convinces Jihoon in the end.

The vibe at the thrift store is completely different from the mall, Jihoon soon realises. This is definitely more his style. The lights are dimmed, there's no obnoxious music and no annoying workers asking if he needs help, he can just browse and look for what he wants by himself. 

Joshua gasps and points at a rack with suit jackets. "You guys, look at this!" he picks out a plaid one. The previous owner was definitely bigger than Jihoon. 

"I...don't think that will fit me." 

"Nonsense, it's trendy to wear baggy clothes." Joshua says and looks at it, delighted. 

"He's going on a date, not a rap battle." Minghao says and Joshua shushes him. 

Once again it's Jihoon's inability to say no to his friends that has him trying on the jacket with a leather vest that Minghao picked out. 

"What am I gonna wear inside that?" 

"Nothing." Minghao shrugs 

"He is not wearing a leather vest with nothing on the inside, are you crazy?" 

"Oh but he's wearing the jacket that looks like rats have been pissing on for thirty years?" 

Joshua opens his mouth to respond when Jihoon interrupts. 

"I'm gonna try both of them on, okay?" 

"...Together?" Minghao and Joshua eye each other. "I guess it could work." 

He gets out of the changing room (which is just really just a bunch of boxes stacked together) and spins around a couple of times for his friends. He puts his hands inside the jacket pockets and looks at himself in the mirror. Joshua starts clapping. 

"It looks so good!" 

"Really? Isn't it too big for me?" he asks, still striking different poses. 

"Mingyu is too big for you but I don't see you having problems with that." he says and folds his arms on his chest. "Do you like it or not?" 

"I think I do." Jihoon says and eyes Minghao. 

"I kinda love it." he says. "The way it clashes with the vest is so interesting." he says and Joshua nods. "It doesn't matter anyway, you won't be wearing it by the end of the night." 

  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
  


Back home, Jihoon is trying on the outfit again. He poses and looks at himself in the mirror. Did it look better at the store? Is it possible that he gained weight the time it took him to come back home cause he swears this zipped up easier… 

Defeated, he picks up the phone and calls up someone that he knows will give him confidence. 

"Hellooooo." Soonyoung answers on the first ring. 

"I have to leave for the date in a few minutes. Hype me up." 

"You're hot, you're smart, you're funny." he starts immediately, "your sexiness makes up for what you lack in height, that's how sexy you are." 

"Getting off track…" 

"Anyone would be lucky to be with you. You managed to score one of the hottest people I've ever seen so clearly you're doing something right. Have a little faith in yourself." 

Jihoon balances his phone between his ear and shoulder as he puts on his shoes. "That was surprisingly inspiring." 

"I keep telling you I'm the best person to ask for advice and you never listen." 

"You've been helpful. Thank you." Jihoon says sincerely. 

"Don't get all mushy on me now! Say 'I'm sexy'." 

"Uh. I'm sexy?" 

"SAY IT LIKE YOU MEAN IT."

"I'm sexy." 

"Damn straight." he says triumphantly. "Now, go." 

Jihoon hears honking, which means that Mingyu is here to pick him up. He quickly snaps a mirror selfie to send to Minghao and Joshua and is out the door. 

  
  
  


* * *

  
  


This time he can let himself go. He does drink, the both do, in fact. The waiter offers them wine and Mingyu gives him a funny look before he takes it and pours one glass for Jihoon and one for himself. 

They're both too tipsy to drive so Mingyu calls a taxi and as cliche as it is, they kiss in the back seat. It's a little embarrassing because the driver seems to recognize Mingyu but he doesn't look bothered. He gives her a fat tip and winks before they exit the car though. 

They enter Jihoon's apartment stumbling their way up the stairs. When they reach the front door, however, Mingyu doesn't make a move. He stands in front of Jihoon, clearly not wanting to invite himself in, and smiles. 

"I had a really great time tonight." he goes for another kiss but Jihoon grabs his jacket and presses their lips together before he can. He smirks and leans against the door. "You're welcome to come inside for another drink." 

"As you wish…" he says and follows Jihoon inside. Once they're in his living room he looks around. 

"I, uh… don't actually have any alcohol here." 

"That's okay, I'm not thirsty." he reassures him and they make their way to the bedroom. 

Both of their jackets are long gone once they're finally in bed together. Jihoon reaches and starts fumbling with Mingyu's belt which makes him smile during the kiss. 

"Take that off too." he says breathlessly and desperately tries to make Mingyu raise his arms so he can remove his sweater. 

Mingyu only laughs in response. "What's the rush, hyung? We have all night…" 

What a fucking tease.   
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
  


The next morning, it takes him a long time to register that he's in bed alone since it's not unusual. He starts feeling the cold breeze on his naked skin and the throbbing headache that starts shaping up his hungover and remembers. He reaches his hand, expecting to touch Mingyu. He wants to scoot closer and hold him there. Maybe they can stay in bed all day cuddling, have sex maybe once or twice, then they can cuddle again… 

The empty spot next to him feels especially cold after he's planned their whole day inside his head so he finally opens his eyes and scans the room. Nothing. 

He reluctantly gets up, wearing a pair of clean boxers and a t-shirt and goes to look for Mingyu. 

The sight that expects him in the kitchen is one to die for. Mingyu doesn't even realize Jihoon is there at first. He's flipping through a cooking book, that Jihoon probably has never used in his life, in boxers and… one of Jihoon's shirts. 

Jihoon gulps. The shirt is purple and obviously too small for Mingyu, leaving his entire stomach exposed in a way that shouldn't be legal. He looks up and smiles widely. 

"Morning, how did you sleep?" 

"Fine…" he jumps up and sits on the counter. Mingyu stands between his thighs. 

"I tried to make you breakfast but you literally have no ingredients." he says. "Seriously, how do you not have salt, what do you eat?"

Jihoon shrugs. "Haven't been to the store in a long time." 

"We could go together." 

"Yeah? What are you wearing, that?" 

Mingyu looks down and laughs. "Hope you don't mind, I went through your stuff. I couldn't find anything else." 

Jihoon blushes and shakes his head. "No, I don't mind. It looks better on you than it ever did on me." 

"You're sweet." he says and goes to kiss him but Jihoon pulls back. 

"Gross, morning breath, go brush your teeth or something." 

Mingyu leaves the space from between his legs and laughs to himself. "You're so weird, you literally had my dick in your mouth last night and you care about morning breath." 

"Hey." Jihoon throws a kitchen towel his way and Mingyu catches it mid air without looking. 

"So…I was thinking…" Mingyu says which makes Jihoon raise his eyebrows. "You should show me those songs you told me about."

"Songs?" he asks and before Mingyu can explain he has a light bulb moment. "Don't tell me I told you that I've written songs about you." 

"Oh,but you did." 

"Damn it." Jihoon rubs his face. "Look, they're not actually songs they're just… rhymes? There's not even a proper melody it's just stupid lyrics." 

"I don't think they're stupid. I think it's romantic." 

"Sure." he scoffs and Mingyu comes closer. 

"No seriously, imagining little Jihoon writing songs about a boy he likes because he has so many feelings and doesn't know how else to express them is doing something to me." 

"In that case you should pay me a visit at the studio sometime." 

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." 

"Awesome." he smiles in satisfaction and then stretches his arms, showing more of his stomach. "Oh this is too small, I think I'm gonna take it off and hop in the shower, if anyone wants to join me…" 

Jihoon jumps off the counter and follows him to the bathroom. 

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
  


**from: me**

**pls pls pls pls tell me you're not at the studio rn**

**from: Vernonie**

**i am why?**

**from: me**

**Is it urgent? I kinda need the place to myself**

**from: Vernonie**

**ok are you close? i'm finishing up**

Jihoon locks his phone and runs up the stairs to the building. The door is open and Vernon is frantically trying to delete something on the computer. 

"Vern?" 

He turns his head fast which makes his headphones disconnect from the computer and a song Jihoon has never heard of before starts blasting. 

"Is that you singing?" 

Vernon quits trying to turn the volume down and sits on the chair in defeat. "Yeah…" 

"You sound good, what's the problem? Is that what you've been working on?" 

"Yeah… I may have accidentally sent it to Chan." 

"Is it about him?" 

Vernon gives him a _'what the fuck do you think'_ look and Jihoon briefly thinks about how similar they are.

"Do you think that there might be a possibility you didn't send it accidentally?" 

"What?" 

"I'm saying that maybe you subconsciously wanted him to listen to it." 

Vernon considers it. "No. I literally wanted to send him a cat video and I pressed paste on the wrong thing." 

Jihoon gives him a questioning look and Vernon sighs. "Don't ask why, but I told him I own a cat." 

"Why the hell would you do that?" 

"I said don't ask." he picks up his bag and leaves the room. "Now, excuse me, I'm going to adopt a cat and name it Chainsaw." 

Jihoon doesn't have time to wonder about what weird thing Vernon just did to get his crush like him. He looks around, making sure everything is in place. Mingyu will be here any minute now. 

After a while,he knocks softly on the open door and enters with a fascinated look on his face. "So,this is where the magic happens?" 

"This is where I work, yeah." 

"Is this like your move?" he says and sits carefully. He crosses his long legs and Jihoon stares at him. He's wearing a white crew neck t-shirt and brown plaid pants. "You bring guys here and watch them swoon as you show them your songs?" 

Jihoon laughs. "I've never brought anyone here for that. Never written about anyone else either." 

"Oh?" 

"Don't get cocky now." Jihoon says but he knows Mingyu will and frankly, he loves it. He loves when he smirks, when he seems full of himself. 

"I can't help it. You just admitted I'm the only one that you've ever liked enough to write a song about."

"I could have told you that." 

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  


Mingyu is quiet and patient while Jihoon digs through his files in search of the tunes he wrote months ago. When he finally finds them in a file with no title, he hands Mingyu the headphones. 

"Heads up. They're bad." 

"Hyung, if someone wrote songs about me because they like me so much, I'm not gonna be judgemental either way." 

Jihoon presses play and watches Mingyu as he changes expressions every 2 seconds. At some point he smiles so tenderly and places his hand on top of Jihoon's. 

"You're not gonna cry, are you?" 

"And what if I am?" Mingyu sniffles. "Hyung, this is so… I don't even know what to say." 

"You don't have to say anything." Jihoon shrugs. 

"I'm so glad you shared that part of you with me. Now come here, I'm gonna do that thing you liked." 

Jihoon laughs. "Vernon has access here, he could walk in at any minute." But it's not like he actually cares. He knows Vernon is not coming again today, he just wants to tease Mingyu. 

"So you're saying that we're not supposed to do it on this couch." 

"That is what I'm saying." 

"Too bad." Mingyu says and lays on it again. He looks really inviting, Jihoon wants to cuddle him, he wants to kiss him and whatever comes after that. 

Jihoon walks to the door and presses the password, locking it. Mingyu smirks. "That's my boy."

  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  


An invitation to a beach trip was all Jihoon needed to trust his house and studio to Vernon for as long as he's away. 

"And why are you asking me again?"

"You live upstairs, it's easy for you to pop by and water the plants." 

"Since when do you have plants…?" 

Jihoon ignores him. "Also, I know you never go shopping, there's plenty of stuff for you here to eat. You can even come and sleep over." 

"Aw you care about me." Vernon laughs and fiddles with the keys Jihoon just handed him. 

"Well, duh." he says and looks around to see if he forgot anything. "Okay, I packed my bags… oh before I forget. You can invite whoever you want to chill, I'll text you the Netflix password." 

"I'm not inviting anyone here to Netflix and chill." Vernon rolls his eyes. 

"I'm just saying you could if you wanted to. I trust you to make good choices." 

"Oh my God, just leave already, isn't Mingyu here to pick you up yet?" 

"Nope." 

"Whatever. Where are you guys staying anyway?" 

"He has a beach house." 

Vernon whistles. "Nice. Have fun, hyung, you deserve a break." 

Mingyu honks from the street and Jihoon gives Vernon a last hug before he's out the door. 

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  


"I've never been there before actually."

"Oh, it's a great place." Mingyu says while driving. He's wearing sunglasses and a red Hawaiian shirt. "I hope you packed warm clothes cause it gets chilly at night." 

Jihoon hums. He doesn't care if it's freezing or scorching hot. 

The drive is long but not tiring. He's been in the car with Mingyu hundreds of times by now and they always manage to make an adventure out of it. Mingyu rolls down the windows and sings at the top of his lungs whatever dumb song is on the radio. Jihoon has never laughed that hard or had this much fun on a road trip. 

When they finally arrive, he parks outside a small wooden house. Carrying all their belongings inside doesn't take a long time, they're only staying for a couple of days after all. 

"It's kinda late." Mingyu says. "I thought our trip would be shorter, sorry." 

"Nothing to apologize for. It's more romantic in the dark." he says and looks around. The house is small but cozy. Most of the space is taken by the huge bed and the fireplace. 

"Ohhh okay." Mingyu nods, smiling. "Alright then. Grab a hoodie, let's go down to the beach." 

"A weird thing to say." Jihoon says but compiles. He opens the front door and Mingyu takes the blanket from the bed and follows him. 

"What's the blanket for?" he asks while they go down the small stairs to the summer house. The beach is within walking distance, only a few feet away from where they're staying. It's pretty empty too, but that's not surprising. It's almost November and most of the houses here are owned by rich people who only use them for one week the entire year. 

"I'm not gonna let your pretty ass get cold, am I?" Mingyu asks and slaps his butt. 

"Damn, who is _this_ Mingyu? You're like a different person on vacation."

"I'm just happy you're here with me. I always come here alone just to surf or swim." 

Jihoon makes a mental note to ask more about him surfing while they put the blanket down on the sand and sit on it. Does he really have to do every hot thing on the planet? 

It's 10 pm. Mingyu was right, it is chilly and they're sitting close to each other. He tells himself it's only because of the weather. 

  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  


_"So are you two like a thing now?" Jeonghan had asked as soon as Jihoon told them that Mingyu asked him to go on a romantic retreat, last Friday._

_"What do you mean?" he raised one eyebrow._

_"Are you like, exclusive?"_

_Jihoon shrugged. Like with most things with Mingyu, he just assumed._

_"I don't know… you're not supposed to ask those things."_

_"Uh…yeah you are." Soonyoung had said and leaned back. "Otherwise how would you know if he's not fucking any other model dudes?"_

_"He isn't. At least I don't think he is."_

_"That's no good. You have to have the talk."_

_"The talk?"_

_"Yeah like you know …what are we? Where is this going? Are you seeing other people? Otherwise you're gonna find out he's been smashing booties with other people."_

_"God, just say sex."_

_"He's right, you know." Jeonghan said again. "Mingyu doesn't owe you anything just like you don't owe him. Do yourself a favor and clear it up."_

_Jihoon pouted and sulked in his seat. "I wish Minghao was here."_

_"Yeah, well, he's not." Soonyoung said strictly. "Dating is all about taking risks at first and so far all we've done all the work for you."_

_"Hey, I was the one who hit on him."_

_"Yeah but would you have done that if Minghao hadn't told you that he was actually into you? And would you have even talked to him if I hadn't physically dragged you to the gallery that one day?"_

_Jihoon snorts. "You were 15, what type of risk did you have to take? Passing Wonwoo a note during math class?"_

_"Don't be dumb, we didn't have math class together."_

_"Mm, it was literature." Wonwoo nodded._

_"Although they're being tactless," Joshua chimed in ",they have a point. Jihoon, you don't deserve to get your heart broken, you deserve to be happy with Mingyu and to do that you have to be honest and just ask him."_

_Jihoon had sighed. A few disapproving looks from his friends and he knew what he had to do._   
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  


"Bets on how many times I can make this rock hop." Mingyu says suddenly and wakes Jihoon up from his thoughts. 

"Hmm...three." 

"You're underestimating me." 

"You're all talk." 

Mingyu smirks, and it's so sexy under the moonlight, and throws the rock towards the ocean. He starts counting, excitement obvious in his voice but the rock only hops twice.

"Looks like I had too much faith in you." 

"It's because the waves are big." 

"The sea couldn't be calmer." 

Mingyu laughs quietly. "Fine, I just suck. So much for wanting to impress you." 

"Please." Jihoon scoots closer. "As if I'm not already impressed." 

"Yeah?" He doesn't look a bit bothered by how close they are. "By what?"

"Your kindness, your hard work and dedication. And that body is only helping your case." 

He laughs hoarsely and rests his head on Jihoon's shoulder. "I really am glad you're here."

"Me too." he says and turns to touch his face. He holds his cheek and runs his thumb over it. "You're so beautiful." 

His eyes are shining when he grabs Jihoon's hand in his larger ones. "I love your hands. And I love your fingers, they're so pretty and dainty."

"Yours are freezing." he says but he thinks he's the one who's gonna start shaking soon. 

"Warm me up then." he winks and finally kisses him for the first time today.

The kiss does warm up Jihoon at least and by the time Mingyu slips a little tongue he's burning up. 

Mingyu pulls away and smiles. "I have an idea." 

"I'm intrigued." 

He gets up in front of Jihoon and starts unbuttoning his shirt slowly. 

"What are you…" 

"Shhh." Once it's off he throws it and Jihoon catches it, laughing. 

"Your strip tease skills are average, better stick to modeling." 

"Funny." he says and jumps up and down. "I'm freezing."

"Why'd you get naked then?" 

"Because I don't wanna get my clothes wet." he replies and unbuttons his denim shorts. With two sharp movements he's taken off his flip flops and is now just in black boxers. Before Jihoon can realise, he's lifting him and throwing him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Jihoon thinks two things: _Huh, he's strong enough to carry me_

and _HOLY SHIT, HE'S CARRYING ME._

Mingyu runs the distance to the shore and throws himself and Jihoon inside the water. 

The water is ice cold, Jihoon has all the time in the world to process it as he slowly reaches the surface and gasps for air. 

"What the fuck was that for?" he yells and makes the mistake of looking at Mingyu. His hair is wet and slicked back and he's smiling so wide that Jihoon literally can't stay mad. He feels like he doesn't have the heart to scold a dog who just broke something because he doesn't understand how big he is. 

"What?" he asks, laughing and Jihoon just looks at him. When none of them speak it's dead quiet. Mingyu snickers and does some weird movements underwater. 

"What the hell are you d-" he tries to ask but then Mingyu's underwear appear out of nowhere and he throws them behind his back. 

"You're gonna lose those."

"I have more." he says impatiently. "You're wearing too many clothes." 

Jihoon's not wearing anything under his hoodie so he quickly takes it off with his shorts. He forces Mingyu to go back and leave them on the blanket though. 

"Now…" Mingyu says and comes closer, wrapping himself around Jihoon underwater. "You said you were gonna warm me up?"   
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  


He wakes up when someone runs their fingers through his hair. 

"Good morning." Mingyu says as soon as he sees him opening his eyes. He looks so good bathed under the morning light, hoarse morning voice and all. 

"Mmm, no attempt at breakfast this time?" 

"I'm on vacation, I'm not leaving this bed."

"Good." Jihoon declares and cuddles him. "Because I wanna stay like this all day." 

"Sounds like the dream." Mingyu starts humming and drawing circles on Jihoon's naked back. "When you get hungry, we could go to this little sushi place down at the seafront." 

"Mmm sushi. I could do that." Jihoon says but right now he's probably gonna fall asleep again under Mingyu's gentle touch. 

  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  


When they finally get dressed and leave the house it's 2 pm. The sun is hot, they're wearing summery clothes and Mingyu takes a deep breath, inhaling the salty wind. 

"I really missed this place…" he says and they start walking along the wooden path. His gaze drifts to the ocean. "The waves are huge." 

"Would you say they're perfect for surfing?"

"I guess? Why are you asking?" he looks amused. He knows why. 

"Screw lunch, let's go back in, you can grab your surfboard and show me.

"You want me to teach you?" 

"No I just wanna watch you battle the waves and then lick the salt off your body." 

"Jesus." he laughs to himself and places his hands on his hips like he's thinking. "Fine. But I'm a little rusty." 

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  


After Jihoon's many demands, Mingyu didn't wear his body suit but just his swim trunks. Jihoon is watching him, kneeling in the sand washing his surfboard, honey skin glowing and sweat dripping in the most inappropriate way.

Jihoon hadn't packed a swimsuit. Instead he's wearing his denim shorts and one of Mingyu's Hawaiian shirts.

"Don't button that up. You're not the only one who wants to see some thangs." 

"You're so lame." he replied and applied more sunscreen on his forearms. 

"You bet." He says and gets up, stretching his back. "Okay the board is ready, time to hit the waves." he moves his hand in a wave like motion. 

"Can't wait. I'll sit here and watch...maybe take some photos." 

"Sure. But this is your last warning that this might not be what you expect, it's been so long since I last surfed, I think I've forgotten everything. 

Lies. He's lying. As soon as Mingyu is on that board and riding the sea Jihoon is in awe. He doesn't take a single picture since he's so captured by his movements. 

This is a difficult sport, Jihoon knows it. He's more than impressed by Mingyu's steady core and technique as well as with his stamina and the way he balances himself. He's ethereal. Jihoon has never wanted to be a board that bad before in his life. 

He's quite far away but Jihoon can still see his form and he can certainly see when a giant wave creeps up behind him and crushes him, making him fall off into the sea. 

Jihoon gasps and starts running towards the ocean when a tanned hand reaches out and waves at him. Mingyu is okay and Jihoon can breathe normally again. 

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  


After a shared shower they take that sushi to go. 

"I'm starving." Jihoon says and fiddles with the bag. 

"Is that why you've been eating me with your eyes all day?" 

Jihoon pokes him with his chopsticks. 

It's a warm night, nothing like the day before, so they're sitting in the patio on some rocking chairs. 

"Good idea to eat at home. I like your house, it's cozy." 

Mingyu laughs again. "Thanks. I did it because I know how you hate people." 

"I hate people that aren't you." he says it fast without realizing and Mingyu blushes. They stay silent for a while, their chewing the only thing being heard. 

"Hey-" 

"Listen-" 

"Oh."

"No, you go first." Jihoon says and Mingyu sighs. 

"I've been wanting to ask you this." 

"Mhm." 

"Like. I know you like like me and I know I like like you but I don't know if you'd like us to pursue uh...something serious." he mumbles the last part and Jihoon can feel the relief running inside his veins.

"That's what I wanted. For quite a long time, actually, I've told you. Hell, I've written songs about you, you know that." 

"Yeah…" Mingyu goes back and forth on his rocking chair with his plate on his lap. "But all that was before you actually got to know me." 

"And what? You'd think my opinion of you would change once I found out you're a model who's not only hot and incredibly attractive but also the sweetest, funniest person who can cook and surf? That I'd like you less?" 

"That...wasn't exactly my thought process." 

"Mingyu, listen. You're literally the only person I've ever been this interested in. You're… a mystery you're so unpredictable, I never know what you're gonna pull next, it's...it's fascinating. I never wanna stop discovering you." 

"Big words."

"Well, I have big feelings." 

Mingyu looks down, smiling. "I was drawn to you from the start too. It sucks that it took us so long but it's okay. We have all the time in the world to catch up." he puts his hand on Jihoon's. "Lee Jihoon, do you wanna be my boyfriend?" 

"What a dumb question, of course I do. " 

"Hey, maybe be nicer? That's your boyfriend you're talking to." 

"Is that so? Cause last night my boyfriend wanted me to call him names and now-" 

"THAT WAS DIFFERENT! Ah, hyung that's embarrassing." Mingyu yells and covers his face. 

They laugh and it's the one sound that can be heard in the entire block, like they're the only two people in the world. 

Jihoon remembers the night he started falling for Mingyu and knows he's never going to stop.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading !! :) kudos and comments are welcome<3
> 
> you can find me on my [twitter](https://twitter.com/flwresan)


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